Welcome to Ever After
by Ailidh
Summary: How Captain Jack Sparrow and Anamaria met for the first time.
1. Chapter 1

Hello, faithful readers. This is a Jack/Anamaria story. It's dedicated to my friend who gave me the idea, my mom who helped me work out some detailsin the story and Cal, who loves reading Jack/Ana stories. Happy reading!

Disclamer - not mine!

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**Welcome to Ever After. **

This was not good. This was definitely not good. Captain Jack Sparrow decided running through the near empty streets. Not good at all. Behind him was a crew of bloodthirsty pirates and duty abiding navy officials. And unsurprisingly though just as shockingly, today they had one common goal in mind. To capture Captain Jack Sparrow, bring him to their commending officer and promptly hang him or otherwise kill him.

It seemed a little unfair, as all he had wanted to do was find a ship and a crew. Not necessarily in that order. Yet somehow he had ended up on a ship that was captained by a dear friend of his traitorous first mate and they had quickly strove to help their friend out by killing the former Captain of the Black Pearl. Jack secretly suspected that it was more the thrill of the chase that drove them but he didn't really fancy being killed at all, chase or no chase and so he had run as they had expected to him. Why else would the Captain have confronted him in the dead of night alone on the deck? They had been close to shore at that time and when the unfortunate circumstances had come to light, he had jumped ship and swam ashore. And they had followed.

Jack cursed silently as he only narrowly missed jumping onto a black cat trying to eat a half-rotten fish. He didn't even consider stopping and turning around to fight his enemy. That would definitely be suicidal. For one, he was alone against a yet undetermined number of two full crews of men, with them determined and him determined to escape yet hurt and exhausted. For another, he had lost his sword somewhere where the entire pirate crew had ambushed him and thereby attracted the attention of the navy. Needless to say the sword hadn't been his first priority just then.

Jack turned awkwardly to look behind him to see if anyone was visibly following him and gasped in pain as the movement jarred the open sword wound in his side. That one was the worst of his injuries but a multitude of other scrapes and newly forming bruises decorated his body. The blood loss from his numerous cuts was making him dizzy.

He had been running for almost a full day since he had jumped from the enemy ship and regardless of the fact that they had only found him after a full night, he hadn't slept in so much longer. The crew of pirates had welcomed him onto their ship with what had seemed like open arms. Jack hadn't told them his own name, signing on as a simple crewmember ready to do anything and could not imagine what there was to worry about. He found out that he was wrong when he found himself jumping into the freezing cold water in the dead of the night, fearing for his life.

The first night had found him in a bar trying to warm up from his impromptu swim and find a suitable hiding place in a town he barely knew. They had seen him in the morning. Fortunately, the upside to being docked in a halfway respectable town meant that the local authorities didn't really like the idea of twenty something loud pirates chasing someone through the streets. The navy had hurried after the pirates who were chasing him and had probably seen him in the process. So now Jack was escaping from crazy pirates who wanted to kill Jack Sparrow and the navy who wanted to hang all of the pirates in the world.

"There he is!" He heard someone scream and put his leftover energy into moving even faster then he already was, turned an unsuspecting corner and promptly collided head on with a slim figure which managed to slap his cheek loudly before he fell backwards onto the ground.

Unable to control his exclamation of pain, he quickly bit down on his tongue to stifle any more noise and looked fearfully behind him. His vision dimmed for a moment then tripled and Jack shook his head to clear it. When he looked up, he saw that the girl he had bumped into was still standing over him, looking down at him quizzically.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Who's chasing you?" She demanded.

"People." He said vaguely. He had to go, get out of here but he couldn't make his vision stop doubling and staying still. "The navy and the entire crew of a pirate vessel." Things just couldn't get worse he decided. Hopefully the navy had gotten at least half of the pirates but they couldn't possibly have captured all of them and the remaining ones would still be after him. He didn't even know who he wanted to get captured by should it come too it and should he be able to chose. Who was the lesser to two evils?

The girl looked at him as if trying to decide something. Then she nodded, having made up her mind and offered him a hand to help him get up and let him lean on her when he tilted precariously on his feet.

"I have a room close to here. You can hide there until they all go away." She told him while expertly and quickly guiding him down the alley.

"A couple of days." Jack managed to utter. He kept his head down, constantly expecting someone to spot them and drag him off to an impending death but no one did.

"Fine." A couple of steps later she led him to a series of small shacks by the bay and stopped. "We're here." She told him indicating the one closest to them.

Contrary to the outside, the inside was clean and neat. His savior led him over to the only slightly battered couch and helped him lie down.

"Where are you hurt?" She asked leaning over him. Jack squinted up at her, completely unable to focus and managed only to smile in relief before slipping into unconsciousness.

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Anamaria stared at the young man lying on her couch. He looked even younger and more peaceful in sleep then he had when he was awake. She was now somewhat sorry that she had slapped an injured man but what was she supposed to do? He had come out of nowhere, almost send her flying to the ground and not knowing his intentions, she had gone with her first instinct.

He had passed out before he could tell her the extent of his injuries but what she judged to be the biggest one was widely apparent, blood seeping through his plain white tunic. Anamaria had cleaned the wound as best she could and wrapped it with a clean bandage. She then cleaned his other visible wounds and cuts and then retreated into the small adjacent kitchen to cook some sort of supper.

Anamaria wasn't worried that anyone would find the stranger here. She was known to live alone since and be a good citizen. She took after her fisherman father in profession and many of the town's officials had come to her for their supply of fish at one time or another. The navy wouldn't search every house for this individual because as far as she knew there was no real need for it. He was just another runaway criminal. He just had to stay inside and wait for the pirates to leave or be caught and then he would be safe. For a while at least. Something told her that the peace would never last. Trouble would always find this man.

She didn't know why she believed this stranger but there was something in his frantic expression that told her that she would never come to harm from him. Also, unfortunately for her, it wasn't easily that she could leave someone desperately in need of help, without said help unless he very clearly didn't deserve it. Perhaps one had to be careful what one wished for. She had just been wishing for more excitement in her life. Anamaria sighed and turned back to her soup. Cooking really wasn't her favorite pastime.

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Author's note - the title?I tried! If anyone has anyideas, don't hesitate to tell me.

Please, please, please review and tell me what you think.

Cal - do you like the surprise? 8-)


	2. Chapter 2

Consciousness returned to him slowly. The first thing Jack became aware of was that his stomach hurt. Then he recalled how he had come by that particular wound. The last he remembered was stumbling along as fast as he possibly could, and the girl that had helped him.

Gingerly, Jack raised himself onto two elbows on the couch and looked around. The house was small but surprisingly very neat and tidy. The furniture was old and worn but in great condition. Delicious supper smells wafted in from the tiny kitchen a few feet away. Hearing a rustle or maybe just checking in on her patient, the girl poked her head out of the doorway and smiled.

"Oh good, you're awake. I was about to get worried." She told him. "Supper should be ready in a couple of minutes but I don't want you to get up just yet. You don't want to aggravate that stab wound of yours."

"Thank you." Jack said sincerely. "I'm Jack." He offered his hand as she came closer. He wasn't sure yet if he wanted to introduce himself as the Captain Jack Sparrow. Jack had spread some stories about himself before setting out for the treasure. Stories like that helped insure a crew that would not sail with a young, untrained and unknown Captain wannabe.

Now though, those stories would only be his downfall, remind him that he wasn't all that he had wanted himself to be. You couldn't be a Captain without a ship and regardless of how much he enjoyed being Captain Jack Sparrow, he wanted to be anonymous for just a little while.

"Anamaria." His savior introduced herself, taking his hand in hers and seemed a little shocked when he bent foreword and placed a gentlemanly kiss onto the back of her palm.

"Tell me why those men were after you." Anamaria told him a little sternly, pulling up a chair to sit in front of Jack.

"Not much to tell." Jack shrugged. "The pirates were after me because they wanted to kill me and the navy was after me because they were alerted by the pirates yelling." He attempted to simplify the story.

"Are you a pirate?" The girl in front of him asked bluntly. Jack's eyes narrowed.

"Would it matter if I was?" He asked suspiciously. Anamaria sighed.

"No. It wouldn't matter. I would just to know who I am harboring in my home." She told him.

"Yes. I am a pirate." Jack admitted.

"Alright." Ana nodded. "Now tell me the real reason those pirates were after you. People, even pirates, don't just go on a hunting rampage for no reason." She was not going to let this go before he answered all of her questions to her satisfaction. She didn't usually take criminals into her home and she wanted to know everything about this situation before doing anything else.

Jack sighed dejectedly when he realized that she would stop at nothing less then the truth. In truth, he didn't want to talk about it. The story was still much too painful to talk about so flippantly. The betrayal had cut too deeply and the wound had not yet healed.

"My bloody first mate stole my ship and left me to die on an uninhabited island. The people that were after me now, are his friends. Wanted to finish what he started, you see." He managed to say, looking away around the room, anywhere but at her face.

Anamaria must have felt how uncomfortable he was with the subject because she nodded curtly and went into the kitchen, returning moments later with a delicious smelling plate of stew in her hand.

"I'm a fisherman by trade." She told Jack while he ate. "And I can't just not go to work whenever I don't want to because that's my livelihood. So I'm going to have to leave you here alone during the day while I go fish. No one comes here. They know that I don't like it when people come into my house uninvited so you'll be safe here alone. Just don't go outside or near the windows."

"Thank you." Jack inclined his head to her. "I'm really grateful for you saving me like that. Didn't want to get killed yet." He grinned at her. Anamaria found herself grinning back at Jack without really knowing why. His smile seemed to be contagious.

Then she sat back and watched Jack eat. Now that he was awake, there was an almost visible aura of power and charisma emanating from the man. He no longer looked as young as he had when he was unconscious. Instead he looked ready for anything. He also didn't seem to mind that his savior was staring at him pointedly and unashamedly. Instead he looked up from his finished meal and grinned at her again.

"You should rest." Anamaria told him, standing up and taking his plate for him, turning to go back to the kitchen.

"Sure." Jack agreed easily, lying back down onto the couch. He knew that he wasn't completely well and he would have to be if he ever wanted to get out of this situation alive. "Don't suppose you have any rum?" He tried. It never hurt to try, he decided.

"Pirates!" Anamaria muttered as she changed direction and poured some rum into a small glass. "I've got rum. You are not getting a lot though." She warned him.

"No problem. Thank you." Jack happily accepted the small glass that she handed him. He didn't drink a lot anyways, only wanted enough to enjoy the taste and help him sleep better.

Anamaria stared in shock at the pirate on her couch. She had helped him out and here he was lounging around asking her for things. And she also found that it was absolutely impossible to stay mad at him. It was akin to staying mad at someone who had no idea what it was that he had done that merited being mad at.

She hadn't had the privilege of knowing that many pirates in her life although one particularly stupid one had once decided that it would be a good idea to rob her small fishing boat. She was a little less then happy.

Nevertheless, in all her dealings with them and in all of the stories that she had ever heard about them, pirates were not happy and polite. They were loud, unpleasant, dangerous, perpetually angry and always drunk.

This man… this Jack defied all of the stereotypes. He was polite and agreeable and surprisingly didn't kill her when she didn't offer him more rum then she did. Looking at him now, he grinned disarmingly again and she got the strongest impression that he enjoyed being what people didn't expect him to be.

Shaking her head at the enigma of Jack, Anamaria left to go eat her own supper.

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Author's note: Hello to my faithful readers. I'm so sorry that this took such a long time. I ran into a pesky little writer's block. It decided that it really liked itself in the path of this story. Hopefully, it'll decide to move soon. 8-)

cal - hey, I'm so glad u liked. Let's see what happens after I remove this writer's block. And yes, her food is edible. lol.

J.L. Dexter- thank you, I am so glad that you liked it. It's scary when ppl say it like that, all the things that they like and then I hope and pray not to dissapoint them in the next chapter. lol. what did u think of this one? 8-)

Flute Damioh- Wow, you don't like Anamaria! oh dear. I'm so glad that u like my story anyways. thanx for the title suggestion, that might work very well. unfortunetly for all good suggestions, my own has kind of grown on me so I think it'll stay. lol. thank you so much though for responding! I hope that you'll like the rest.

kungfuchick- no, there probably aren't - enough good j/a stories out there. i hope that this'll be one. definitly happy u like.

Sue - Thank you! more development coming right up!

AyaTheBold- thank you, i feel so special! don't worry, more romance forecasted in the future. enjoy reading!

As usual, Please, please, please review!


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